Evonik announces €400m PA 12 production plant to be operational by 2021

Evonik 2021 PA 12 plant

Part of the PA12 production complex in Marl

Evonik, a global chemicals company, has announced plans to build a new €400 million polyamide 12 (PA 12) production complex in Marl, Germany.

The company is aiming to increase its PA 12 capacity by more than 50% as demand for the high-performance polymer increases in the 3D printing market, as well as the automotive and oil and gas industries.

Set to be fully operational by 2021, it follows the ‘mid double-digit million Euro’ investment in a PA 12 powder production plant announced last month. Together, the company expects the massive investments into PA 12 production to make a substantial contribution to Evonik’s margin goal, and generate an annual cash flow in the hundreds of millions of Euros in the long-term.

“We are planning Evonik’s largest investment in Germany,” commented Christian Kullmann, Chairman of the Evonik Executive Board. “This investment is a perfect fit to our strategy of consistent focus on specialty chemicals since polyamide 12, as a high-performance polymer for specialty applications, is an important part of our strategic Growth Engine Smart Materials. Our workforce in Marl is highly qualified, and our investment will create around 150 jobs. Moreover, we can make optimal use of synergies with our existing infrastructure. That creates highly favourable conditions to sell our specialty products on a global scale.”

PA 12 boasts attractive properties for manufacturers, such as high flexibility, high temperature resistance and low weight. It is recording annual growth rates of more than 5% worldwide, and remains a widely-used material in the automotive sector, and is becoming more and more prevalent in the additive manufacturing sector too. Evonik sees itself as a leader in PA 12 production, offering the material in powder form under the VESTOSINT brand and in granulates under the VESTAMID brand. The company's recent investment is set to reinforce an already strong supply to its customer base.

“The demand for polyamide 12 is showing steady, dynamic growth,” said Claus Rettig, Chairman of the Board of Management of Evonik Resource Efficiency GmbH. “The planned capacity expansion will further strengthen our leading market position for polyamide 12. For our customers worldwide, our commitment translates into long-term availability and reliability of supply for their existing and future applications.”